Blogging While Down

Initially I started this blog in a journal style, not intending to reach huge number or anything, but to have an outlet where I could describe what it is like to live with these mental health disorders. For the few posts I've made I've enjoyed it and I've been completely open and honest. But then I started feeling a little down, and then a little more down and so I stopped. Now to be fair, it wasn't really a conscious choice not to blog. Unfortunately depression is more than feeling a little sad...

Read more »

A New Diagnosis

A little over three years ago now I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. At the time I remember feeling immensely relieved. It wasn't that I was thrilled with finding out that I had a mental health disorder, and I definitely was not jumping around excited and shouting it to the world. But it did make sense to me. After years of irrational behavior, ups and downs and emotionally reacting to events in my life in ways that I didn't understand; I finally had a reason for it all. With that came an opportunity...

Read more »

Moment by moment.

I woke up this morning. And my first thought was; Oh my gosh, how am I going to get through today, and tomorrow and this week and this month... and... and... and... My mind immediately went into overdrive. I began to panic, my pulse started to race, my thoughts soared out of control and I wanted to shut down. So I did the best thing that I could do in the moment: I got out of bed. I focused on the small task of climbing out of bed and making it (so I wouldn't crawl back in) and moving out to...

Read more »

Setbacks

It's been a tough week. I take medication for bipolar disorder. The specific medication that I take is a mood stabilizer with an anti-depressant effect. Now this doesn't mean that I'm an emotional robot. Thankfully the medical world has come a long way from the days where people with mental health disorders were given medication that turned them into zombies. However, it does mean that sometimes things can still trigger us, even medicated. The difference is an ability to spot our mood changes, to...

Read more »